Thank You Very Much! Amassing Rewards with Citi
I have previously described how I’ve obtained solid value out of Citi Thank You Rewards points. However, like other programs, Citi has become more stringent with application rules, and amassing rewards with Citi has become more challenging. For instance, Citi has stated in order to receive a welcome offer on a new account, a Citi customer must not have opened or closed a credit card in the same brand (Thank You, American Airlines, etc) within the last 24 months. But you can still easily stack up significant amounts of Thank You points. How? Let’s take a look.
Current Welcome Offers
It’s important to pick the optimal Thank You point earning card welcome offer, given Citi’s stringent welcome offer rule. Here are some options:
Citi Premier Card: Earn 60,000 Thank You points with $4,000 spend within the first three months of account opening. There is a $95 annual fee for this offer, currently not waived the first year.
Citi Prestige Card: Earn 50,000 Thank You points with $4,000 spend within the first three months of account opening. There is a $495 annual fee.
Citi Rewards+ Card: Earn 15,000 Thank You points with $1,000 spend within the first three months of account opening. There is no annual fee.
Welcome Offer Analysis
How do we wrap our heads around all of these offers? Let’s take a look below.
Citi Premier
If you are not currently holding any of the above cards and are not subject to Citi’s welcome offer limitation, I recommend first obtaining the Citi Premier. In addition to the highest current welcome offer, the annual fee is a modest $95. With this card, all points are worth 25% more when redeemed for travel rewards via Citi’s Thank You portal. We’ll dive into the superior bonus category below.
Citi Prestige
For current holders of the Premier card who are also eligible for a new Thank You bonus, the Prestige is worth considering. If you can easily use the $250 annual travel credit, the hefty annual fee is a bit more digestible. While the fourth night free hotel benefit isn’t what it used to be, you can still get solid value out of this benefit twice annually via the Citi Thank You portal. I currently plan to apply for the Prestige once my 24 months are up.
Citi Rewards+
Only consider a new application for the Rewards+ if you are a current Premier cardholder eligible for another welcome offer who is not interested in the Prestige. Although the card has no annual fee, the welcome offer is well below other options. The round up and 10% points back benefits are interesting features of this card, though. If you hold the Premier or Prestige and the Rewards+ welcome offer isn’t moving the needle for you, you can simply product change another Citi card to the Rewards+. Citi is particularly flexible with product changes in my experience. For instance, you can easily product change a Citi American Airlines card to a Thank You point-earning card. Most banks do not allow this crossover from co-branded to non co-branded card.
Don’t Forget Citi Double Cash!
Speaking of product changes, I primarily recommend this tactic to obtain the Citi Double Cash. There is currently no welcome offer for the card, so don’t take the credit application/report hit unnecessarily. However, I’m a big fan of the Double Cash’s versatility, and it may be worth a new card application in your situation. Indeed, I hold three Double Cash card accounts.
Teaming Up
If you are in two-player mode, the Citi 24 month rule is a bit easier to swallow. Since you and your partner can each sign up for a new Thank You point-earning card every two years. You could easily earn up to 120,000 Thank You points in few months at the current rates. The two of you could instead decide to alternate applications every 12 months, obtaining a welcome offer bonus on an annual basis.
Bonus Categories
Beyond the welcome offers, bonus category spend can drive up your Thank You point balance. Let’s go through some primary options.
Citi Premier at Gas Stations
This card earns 3x Thank You points in the travel category, which is liberally defined to include gas stations. Many gas stations sell a variety of gift cards, giving you easy access to 3x earning at a substantial scale (relative to other 3x options). Also, I’ve noticed that gas stations often have some gift cards with lower activation fees compared to other brick and mortar options (grocery stores, primarily). On occasion, Citi has considered spend at convenience stores (with no gas pumps) as gas station spend, also. Hit the street and do some experimenting! You may be surprised by the results.
Citi Prestige for Airfare
Those of you who have significant spend on airfare should consider using the Prestige for its 5x air travel category, particularly if you are trying to increase your Thank You point balance. Of course, weigh this against other options, like 5x Membership Rewards with the Platinum American Express cards.
Citi Prestige for Dining Out
The Prestige’s 5x at restaurants category is hard to beat. I’m a big fan of the American Express Gold 4x at restaurants, but would definitely move restaurant spend to the Prestige if I had it and needed more Thank You points. However, don’t let go of logic with this category; depending on the restaurant, you could easily save 20-30% by using discounted gift cards, instead. Also, I would find it difficult to keep the Prestige if the restaurant category is the primary benefit for my situation.
Citi Double Cash for Most Everything Else
Given that Double Cash rewards now transfer 1:1 to Thank You points, I consider spend on the Double Cash as a no-brainer when I’m trying to increase my Thank You point balance. What other bank currency earns two transferrable points per dollar on everything with no annual limits? None that I know of!
Citi Rewards+ for Those Little Things
I describe my 2020 small transaction strategy on the Rewards+ in a different article. The round-up of each transaction to the nearest 10 Thank You points ensures that I use the Rewards+ for all transactions under a few dollars.
Amassing Rewards with Citi – Spending Offers
Citi periodically sends out spending offers via snail mail and email. For instance, I currently have an offer to earn 5x Thank you points (up to 2,500 points) at clothing, computer/electronics, department, and toy stores.
I also recommend calling Citi every several months to check for general spending offers on your cards. Citi has offered a variety of spending offers this way in the past, so simply asking doesn’t hurt.
Amassing Rewards with Citi – Bank Account Bonuses
Citi has previously mailed out bank account bonus offers in the form of Thank You points. If you are targeted for an offer and decide to pursue it, ensure to read the fine print, as the Thank You points awarded for bank account bonuses can have different requirements and limitations than Thank You points earned via credit cards.
Amassing Rewards with Citi – Final Thoughts
While the welcome offer rule takes away some Citi sizzle, Thank You point earning in huge chunks is alive and well. Moreover, I enjoy the ongoing game of amassing Thank You points with calculated spend habits. What strategies have you used to drive up your Thank You point balance?
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Ok, had not seen the earlier article.
Is Citi Rewards card considered the same category as the Preferred? Citi wouldn’t let me downgrade from the Prestige to the Preferred. I was surprised.
How do you receive the Citi offers? I either haven’t received them or I am not noticing them.
In my experience, Citi is remarkably easy to product change with. That’s weird how you weren’t able to downgrade from the Prestige to the Preferred before, but there are better cards to product change to than the Preferred, anyway. When you are ready, try calling again and attempting a product change to the Rewards+ (or other card you select). Spending offers are usually targeted to your email or snail mail. You can also call and ask if you are eligible for any spending offers.
You’re not thinking hard enough about the Citi Rewards card. Not gonna do circles and arrows, but REALLY THINK about the round up feature on otherwise non-bonused spend.
Why limit to small dollar items…. if something is just over the $10 mark, or ANY amount over a number ending in a zero, then you have a bonus. Depending on where you are, this can still be the card to use.
If you run certain kinds of small businesses of your own from home, for example, there are multiple small spends that are repeated daily. Use that card for that. Figure this one out on your own though. Me, I like several thousand extra free points monthly.
Lots more ways to capitalize on this wonderful card if you just THINK about it.
Carl,
I, indeed, have thought hard about the Citi Rewards+, and I do value the card. Please see my previous article about the Rewards+ card, which I linked in the above article. I covered maximizing the round-up feature, and much more, in that article.
Carl,
Anything $5+ makes more sense to use the double cash because you’re getting at least 2x TYP. The rewards+ Is like a step function. Where as the DC is a linear function with slope 2. The linear function is > or = to the step function beyond $5 and the difference is exacerbated by large amounts.
For example, $21. With the DC you get 42 TYP but the rewards+ you get 30TYP.
$11 DC gets 22
R+ gets 20
JJ, I believe you, though the math confuses me a bit (I am not good with it). However, for *me* the point is moot.
I don’t have the Double cash and am off getting new cards for the present. That said, when addressing the original point of this article, which was ONLY the Rewards Plus card, I still see lots of value, especially with small purchases and spends, which I alluded to when I mentioned I wasn’t gonna do circles and arrows.
There are ways to generate a LOT of those if you keep an eye out, especially if you do some kinds of work from home and there is where it can pay off. I average 4x overall and that is not to be laughed at. (Caveat: Coronavirus has put a big halt on me at present due to age and health)